10/28/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (10/26/06)

• In Echoes of Past Intervention, Bush Administration Opposes Nicaraguan Frontrunner Daniel Ortega
• Veteran Investigative Journalist Bob Parry on the Iran-Contra Scandal and the Perils of Reporting It
• New York Judge Awards $19 Million to Victims of CIA-Backed Haitian Death Squad Leader Toto Constant
• Hip Hop Artist M-1 of Dead Prez: "The Media in This Country is an Organ of the State... It Controls What We Are Hearing and Seeing"

Ray Charles, "What'd I say," Piano Blues.

Citizens demand better communication in the citywide planning process

At a planning oversight meeting this past Thursday, New Orleans residents and community representatives repeatedly expressed frustration with the failure of the city’s recovery planning management team to perform effective marketing to people still displaced outside of New Orleans, or living in communities where traditional social networks have been destroyed.

The Unified New Orleans Plan is the latest in a series of neighborhood and citywide planning efforts which have tried to place New Orleans on a path to rebuild essential public services and infrastructure. The process is being monitored and advised by the Community Support Organization, a group of various planning stakeholders and citizen representatives.

Jimmy Yancey, "How Long Blues," Piano Blues.

Robert Creeley, "The Long Road," The United States of Poetry.

Joe Calicott, "Fare Thee Well Blues."

Mississippi John Hurt, "Since I Laid My Burden Down."

10/21/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (10/19/06)

• Latino, Monitor Groups Say Proposed FCC Rules Limit Media Diversity
• Extraordinary Rendition Victim Maher Arar Accepts Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
• Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program

The Mid-City Neighborhood Organization planning process

Part 1:
The citywide planning process to rebuild New Orleans staggered forward last Saturday with 13 planning district meetings across the city. The goal was to move forward with the planning process by aggregating neighborhood plans to the district level. The goal is to compile the district plans into one citywide rebuilding plan by January.

Some residents who attended the District 4 planning meeting last Saturday expressed frustration that significant issues in their neighborhood plans remain unresolved, while both planners and residents who have interests in more than one planning district complained that it wasn’t fair to expect them to be in more than one place at a time, as many of the district planning meetings were scheduled at the same time.

Nevertheless, most residents seem resolved that the Unified Planning Process needs to move forward, and they are actively engaged in pressing forward their list of priorities, in countless meetings, week after week, to rebuild their neighborhoods.

Jennifer Weishaupt is the Coordinator for Economic Development with the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization.

This conversation was recorded at the recently re-opened Bayou Coffee House and Wine Bar on the broad, oak-lined Jefferson Davis Parkway near Bayou St. John.

Part 2:
A few of the prominent concerns in the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization planning process are infrastructure repair and improvement, education, economic development, and affordable housing.

Additional information:
The Mid-City Neighborhood Organization rebuilding plan is available online at MCNO.ORG. Among upcoming MCNO activities, there will be a City Park clean-up organized for October 28th at 8 a.m., and MCNO is hosting Mid-City’s Open for Business, an informational forum that targets returning and prospective small business owners, on Saturday November 4th at City Park’s Botanical Garden. The Mid-City Neighborhood Organization holds planning meetings every Monday at 6:30 p.m., at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal St. Go to MCNO.ORG for more information, or call (504)905-9713.

The UNOP Web site has archived audio from District 4 UNOP presentation, as well as the agenda, presentation, meeting minutes, map, and facilitator contact sheet. Similar documentation is available for each of the other planning districts on the UNOP Web site.

Here's a list of archived audio from all of the UNOP presentations at the Oct. 14 District meetings: District 1, District 2, District 3, District 4, District 5, District 6, District 7, District 8, District 9, District 10, District 11, District 12, District 13.

The next Unified New Orleans Plan Community Support Organization advisory board meeting will be in the City Council chamber on Thursday, October 26, at 5:30 p.m.

The first Unified New Orleans Plan Community Congress will be held on Saturday, October 28, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., at the Morial Convention Center. The focus of this first Community Congress will be identifying the city’s large scale infrastructure priorities, the status of the recovery process and how UNOP is moving forward.

More photos from the 4th District planning meeting.

Related:

The Bayou Coffee House and Wine Bar has recently re-opened (326 N. Jeff. Davis Pkwy). The grand re-opening will be on Saturday, November 4th, starting at Noon, with live music and prizes. Mayor Ray Nagin and city councilmembers Shelly Midura and Stacy Head have been invited to attend.

Demolition is developments' destiny, HANO says

A grand scheme for reinventing public housing is in the works

10/14/2006 Community Gumbo

Update in progress ...

Democracy Now (10/10/06)

• Twilight of the Assassins: Why the U.S. Refuses to Prosecute the Cuban Exiles Luis Posada Carriles & Orlando Bosch For the 1976 Bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455
• Sarah Chayes on Life in Afghanistan After the Taliban and Why She Left NPR

Vietnamese in Biloxi -- Christian Roselund reports (seeking permission to post audio online)

Community Support Organization advisory board meeting

Fewer than 50 residents attended an advisory board meeting of the citywide rebuilding plan on Thursday. Members of the Concordia planning firm presented an update to the Community Support Organization advisory board comprised of neighborhood representatives.

Concordia, led by Steven Bingler, was awarded a non-competitive contract by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, was given the lead role in coordinating the Unified New Orleans Plan process, with $5.5 million in grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

Five out of the nine members of the Community Support Organization advisory team listened to Concordia presentations on the planning process, and then quizzed the Concordia team to flesh out the details of the complicated planning process.

Announcements:

Citywide planning district meetings today

Related:

City Business -- Unfinished plans slow developers

Greater New Orleans Community Data Center

NorthWest Carrollton -- UNOP process

Times-Picayune -- N.O. planning sessions set for Saturday

10/07/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (10/4/06)

• "Classic Washington Pushoff" - Fmr. Counterrorism Advisor Rand Beers on Rice's Reported Dismissal of Pre-9/11 CIA Warnings
• SEIU Leader Andy Stern on "Getting America Back on Track"
• Actor Mark Ruffalo on His Decision To Speak Out Against the Bush Administration
• Tensions High in Oaxaca as Fox Warns Force Might Be Used to Crush Uprising

City Council Vice President Arnie Fielkow's "Listening Session"

Excerpts from the first of New Orleans Councilman-At-Large Arnie Fielkow's listening sessions held on Tuesday, October 3rd, at the Jewish Community Center.

Moderator: Lee Zurick, WWL TV.

Special introduction: Donald Powell, Federal Coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding.

Part 1: Presentations
Property Insurance:

• Clarissa Preston, Deputy Insurance Commissioner.
• Julie Quinn, State Senator and Member of Senate Insurance Committee.
• Gary Delahoussaye, Vice President of Eustis Insurance Agency.
  

The Road Home Program:

• Michael Byrne, ICF, Chief Program Executive of The Road Home Program.
• Sandra Gunner, Intergovernmental Affairs and Community Development. Director of New Orleans, Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Good Neighbor Plan:

• Brenda Breaux, Chief Deputy City Attorney.
• Tony Faciane, Deputy Executive Assistant for Housing.

Part 2: Q&A

Announcements:

Unified New Orleans Plan Community Support Organization meeting

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2006
FROM 5:30 PM TO 7:30PM
NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER

Unified New Orleans Plan District Planning Meetings, Sat. October 14 (pdf flyer, 550 mb):
In these district meetings residents from each planning district will meet to assess the progress of current community projects and establish the direction for future initiatives. All members of the community are encouraged to participate.

Citizens who are unsure of what district they live in can log onto www.unifiedneworleansplan.com or call 877.527.3284 (LA Rebuilds).

District 1
St. Paul Lutheran, 2624 Burgundy Street
9:00 - 11:00 am

District 2
Trinity Church, 1329 Jackson Ave.
9:00 - 11:00 am

District 3
Trinity Church, 1329 Jackson Ave.
1:00 - 3:00 pm

District 4
First Baptist Church, 5290 Canal Blvd.
9:00 - 11:00 am

District 5
UNO Lindy Boggs Conference Center,
Auditorium, 2000 Lakeshore Dr.
1:00 - 3:00 pm

District 6
UNO Lindy Boggs Conference Center
Multipurpose Room #236
2000 Lakeshore Dr.
1:00 - 3:00 pm

District 7
Desire Street Ministries, 3600 Desire Parkway
9:00 -11:00 am

District 8
Desire Street Ministries, 3600 Desire Parkway
1:00 - 3:00 pm

Districts 9, 10, 11
UNO Lindy Boggs Conference Center,
Auditorium, 2000 Lakeshore Dr.
9:00 - 11:00 am

District 12
Behrman School, 617 Opelousas Ave.
5:00 - 7:00 pm

District 13
Behrman School, 617 Opelousas Ave.
2:00 - 4:00 pm